Five Most Important Things From Virginia Tech Head Coach James Franklin After Friday's Practice

Virginia Tech football hosted its penultimate open-to-the-media fall camp practice today, and with that, we're inching closer and closer to football season. Fifteen days await until the Hokies challenge VMI in their season opener. Here are the five most important things from head coach James Franklin's media availability.

No. 1: Virginia Tech has not answered the question of who will start Week 1 vs. VMI.

Franklin continued to be noncommittal on the status of Virginia Tech's quarterback battle. It's seemed to be one that's been redshirt sophomore Ethan Grunkemeyer's spot at the top all along — Grunkemeyer is the lone of the four signal-callers in the room that's played a true snap of college football; he threw for 1,339 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions at Penn State last season — but nothing has been set in stone yet.

That continues to be the case, with returnee Kelden Ryan and true freshman Troy Huhn garnering mentions from Franklin.

"It's still a competition, and we've still got a lot of work to do between now and our first game," Franklin said.

No. 2: Several wide receivers boosted their stock further — as did one cornerback.

Marlion Jackson, Davion "FatRat" Brown and Tyseer Denmark may have been the two biggest winners of the wide receivers Friday. Denmark won a one-on-one drill where he scuttled past corner Thomas Williams for a medium throw to the house. Meanwhile, Thomas Williams picked off both Chanz Wiggins and true freshman Hudson Zell.

No. 3: Here's a look at who was going through drills and some of what Franklin had to say on the standouts.

The first three through wide receiver catches with no defense were Ayden Greene, Que'Sean Brown and Denmark, while the next three through the order were Jackson, Davion Brown and Penn State transfer Jeff Exinor. Shamarius "Snook" Peterkin and Chanz Wiggins were next, followed by walk-on Drew Hube and L.J. Booker.

During the receiver-defensive backs one-on-one drills, Greene and Clarke matched up, as did Jackson and White. Meanwhile, Denmark matched up with Williams. For the first time visible during fall camp, the coaching staff decided to do two-on-two drills. Isaiah Brown-Murray and Joshua Clarke were the first two on the defensive side, with Jaquez White and Tyson Flowers taking the next rep.

The ones for the linebackers were Kaleb Spencer, Noah Chambers and Keon Wylie — a group Franklin lauded for its experience and size.

"There are three guys that, to me, have played a lot of football," Franklin said. "All three of them have really good size."

Franklin mentioned that they'll run nickel and not run with three true linebackers all the time, but they will have three-LB packages.

"As much as most people in the country are playing nickel, we also want to have the ability when people line up in heavy sets, whether it's 12-personnel or bigger, that we have the chance to matchup and get some bigger guys on the field.

No. 4: More clarity surfaced on some absences.

Linebacker Gabe Williams is "out with a long-term injury", per a Virginia Tech team spokesperson, while fellow linebacker Antwone Santiago was back at practice today. No update was provided by Franklin on defensive tackle Emmett Laws or offensive lineman Johnny Garrett. Garrett's injury was described in the same "long-term" tone as Williams' was.

Franklin doesn't tend to speak on such injuries, saying to direct them elsewhere to not take up questions during press conferences.

"You make plans based on everybody being healthy," Franklin said. "So, whenver, you lose a guy, it obviously affects you. We've got some young guys that we've got to get ready sooner rather than later."

Franklin then went on to mention creating positional flexibility, where he mentioned Sherrod Covil as an example. Covil has switched to linebacker after playing safety in 2025.

No. 5: Franklin believes his group has made strides in key objectives.

Franklin said Friday that the team has made strides both from a competitive standpoint and from the perspectives of toughness and physicality.

"We've had a physical camp," Franklin said. "... I think our give-a-shit level is really high, and I think we're getting a better idea on offense and defense and special teams who we're going to need to be with this team based on our identity to be successful. To me, that's a critical piece over these two weeks."

Virginia Tech's opener against the Keydets is set for Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. ET, and it will be available for viewing on the ACC Network.

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